FPV Graduation Cap Drone

Initial Design

The first step was to to disassemble the drone and measure the cap, and then design a new frame for the electronics that fits inside the cap.

Prototyping

From there, I laser cut a test piece out of pressed board to see if the sizing was correct, and as it was I then cut the frame out of 1/8" acrylic.

I cut holes in the fabric of the cap, lengthened the motor wires, and did a first assembly and test flight. It was a lot heavier than the original drone, so it needed around 70% throttle to even hover, but it flew!

Upgrades

Now that I knew it flew, I could continue with my plan. From the beginning I wanted to inset the motors, so the propellers were flush with the top of the cap, both for looks and safety.

I snapped the previous motor mounts off, and used the holes I already laser cut into the frame to mount the 3D printed "buckets" for the motors. These also had the added benefit of covering up the rough edge of the fabric.

Final Touches

To cover the electronics I used a rubber duck from that year's FTC competition. I also added an FPV camera so I could get a video of the cap's view of all the other caps being thrown.